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Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Tuesday Intro: Old Filth

The Donheads

He was spectacularly clean. You might say ostentatiously clean. His ancient fingernails were rimmed with purest white. The few still-gold hairs below his knuckles looked always freshly shampooed, as did his curly still-bronze hair. His shoes shone like conkers. His clothes were always freshly pressed. He had the elegance of the 1920s, for his garments, whatever they looked like off, always became him. Always a Victorian silk handkerchief in the breast pocket. Always yellow cotton or silk socks from Harrod's; and some still perfect from his old days in the East. His skin was clear and, in poor light, young.

A couple of days ago I began reading Between You & Me: Confessions of a Comma Queen by Mary Norris. It's a new hardcover from the library. As I've also developed a fondness for reading in the pool (on one of those comfy floating chairs), library books are an obvious contraindication.

I bought a paperback copy of Old Filth at a library sale a year or two ago. In addition, I have an audio version, which I scored during a Buy One, Get One sale at audible. I love that description of Old Filth {though I had to google conker - it's the seed of a horse chestnut} and look forward to getting to know him better. Think I'll get started later today.

Here is the goodreads summary:

Sir Edward Feathers has had a brilliant career, from his early days as a lawyer in Southeast Asia, where he earned the nickname Old Filth (FILTH being an acronym for Failed In London Try Hong Kong) to his final working days as a respected judge at the English bar. Yet through it all he has carried with him the wounds of a difficult and emotionally hollow childhood. Now an eighty-year-old widower living in comfortable seclusion in Dorset, Feathers is finally free from the regimen of work and the sentimental scaffolding that has sustained him throughout his life. He slips back into the past with ever mounting frequency and intensity, and on the tide of these vivid, lyrical musings, Feathers approaches a reckoning with his own history. Not all the old filth, it seems, can be cleaned away.

What do you think? Would you keep reading?

Every Tuesday, Diane at Bibliophile by the Sea posts the opening paragraph (sometime two) of a book she decided to read based on the opening. Feel free to grab the banner and play along.

I also am cautious about books at the pool or the beach. I try to pick up some cheap paperbacks from the library book fair so I can consider them disposable and toss them when I am through, if necessary.Not sure this book is for me, but I hope you enjoy it!I've never read any of these, but at least five of them are on my list. I'd forgotten all about 'Back Channel'.Today I'm featuring Orphan #8

JudyMac - This is a trilogy? I tend to avoid series, but seem to be on a roll this year... Trollope, Ferrante, and now this! LOL! I really liked the first several pages of Old Filth. God on the Rocks is on my shelf, too.

Oh yes, a trilogy! You will really appreciate his long-suffering wife, Betty, once you have read The Man in the Wooden Hat. The books are far more romantic than you can probably imagine now. The Stories of Jane Gardam came out in 2014, which I will eventually read I'm sure.

JudyMac - Excellent! I will read Ferrante's final Neopolitan Novel when it is released in September, finish the last two of Trollope's Barsetshire Chronicles this fall and then I'll have a new 'project' to look forward to... now I'm excited :)

I would definitely keep reading! I haven't heard of this book or this author but it sounds interesting. I love the idea of reading in the pool on a float but haven't been able to make it happen quite yet!

The title immediately grabbed my attention, and I like the first paragraph a lot. I would certainly keep reading. The writing looks good, and the description looks as though it's leading to something I can't put my finger on.

Very interesting description of this guy. Irt makes me want to know more about him. I also like the title. Hard to forget that one. (I also had to look up conkers. I'm going to use it for a Wondrous Words post.)